Dragon's Maw
by SparkeyChan
Summary: A young boy must learn a mysterious and deadly breath. Takashi begins his journey to kill all demons. A journey bathed in blood.


Dragon's Maw

Chapter One: Takashi Hashimoto & Ashido

A small village stood solidly near a brigade which stretched across a crystal blue lake, gleams of sun bounces of the small gentle waves and flowers bloom, clouds avoid the bright sky while the sun-filled the air with joy.

All throughout the village laughter of joy rung out as children ran down the streets in groups darting through alleyways, one, in particular, ran behind everyone else laughing along with his ultramarine hair which brightens into a crimson red the slick back hair with a few loose bangs covering his right side of the face, his bangs jumped up and down to reveal his two blood-red joyful eyes.

"Takashi!" shouts a soft feminine voice, he turns his little head upwards to see slender woman poking her head out from the window with her dark red hair draping over the edge.

"Mommy!" happily yells the young boy with a bright smile.

"Time for dinner, come and get washed up," she says with her soft smile.

"Yes, Mommy," respond Takashi, waving his friends off before joyful running into the apartment.

The happy boy runs up the stairs before walking into the warm apartment, there was a small living room with a table in the middle, the room across was a kitchen where his mother was putting the finishing touches on their dinner.

Takashi moves to the kitchen but struggled to reach the sink, his mother noticed this and couldn't stop the giggle; "My little boy still trying to reach the reach on his own."

"I'm six, I'm practically a grown man," says Takashi pouting earning another giggle from his mother.

"Now, now. You don't have to be a man," says his mother picking him up and placing him onto the side; "I want you to stay as my little boy forever."

Takashi smiles with a light blush as his mother slowly washing his hands, Takashi couldn't help his wandering eyes which brushed over the spare room and the table big enough for a family but only houses the two.

"Alright, we're ready," says his mother positively glowing, taking Takashi off of the side and letting him run towards the table to set up his mother's and his own places.

Swiftly, his mother places the meals on the table before placing herself in front of her own, the two prayed before they got started, the two joyful made their way through the meal with the eager boy completely destroying his own meal before his mother made it halfway.

Afterwards, Takashi found himself struggling out of his clothes with his mother having to help him; "Now, now. What do I say?"

"Don't rush things. Take a breath and slow down," replies Takashi like a well-oiled machine.

Just as he said, he takes a slow breath and slows down leaving the clothes to fall off effortlessly; "There you go, see you don't need to rush things."

Just before bed, Takashi looks out the window staring at the bright sparkling stars and the orb of white light that beams down onto the village but even through the pleasant silence, Takashi couldn't stop the cold shiver that teased his spine.

"Alright, Takashi. Time for bed," coos his mother from the other room.

Instantly, Takashi took off running towards the room, finding the two futons next to each other, one having his mother wrapped in the clean sheets, Takashi slides into his own with a joyful smile but the cold shiver itched in the back of his head.

During his blissful sleep, he felt the cold shiver work it's way from his skull to his stomach swallowing it whole, soon the pain of the shiver become unbearable forcing him to throw himself up into a sitting position with a scream and a stream of panting.

His eyes soon widen with absolute horror, he wants to scream but the fear freeze it inside of his throat and cold sweat bleeds down his face.

A horrific scene plays by his side where his eyes are unable to tear from it.

A dark blue-skinned creature with long draping black hair covering it's boney back, his long legs sat him firmly on his mother, his claw-like hands tore and sliced through his mother's now lifeless body, ripping chunks of meat from the body, blood-spattered all around the room but most the blood splattered over Takashi's face.

However, the demon notices the boy turning its head, letting its bloodshot eyes fall upon the young boy, his sharpen teeth lay bare; "I thought I'll be able to save you for last but it seems I'll have to feast on you right now."

The demon turned around to reveal its body where sharp bones slice through flash and into the open air, his fangs stretch from its mouth, the demon had no muscle only tightened flesh which gripped the bones.

Suddenly, the demon leapt from Takashi mother's body forcing it to fly back like a ragdoll forcing blood to smear on the wall and organs to flood out piling up on the floor.

While the demon lunges through the air with blood dripping off his talons until…

Instantly, the door slammed open as a figure pounces from outside and it a swirl of power slices off the demon's arm effortlessly, the bloody arm drops to the floor, the demon's scream echos as it throws itself backwards.

"DEMON SLAYER!?" snarls the demon bearing its fangs like a wild animal; "I made sure that none of you were around my hunting grounds!"

The figure stops swirling and lands in between Takashi and the demon, he was tall and lean, his black greying hair was tied up in a bun leaving it to spike at the ends, his face was clean with icey sharp eyes staring at the demon, he had two blades within his hands both a fiery red.

"You are correct. No demon slayer is in the area," says the man; "Since I'm not a demon slayer but a trainer."

"I don't care!" says the demon with a snarl; "I'll kill you anyway!"

The demon dashes forward, the trainer prepares from the attack place one blade on his shoulder and the other one is held out in front of him. As the demon dashes forward it quickly dashes to the side avoiding the man and lunging towards the boy opening its mouth ready to bite down on boy's fleshy shoulder.

'Damn! He went after the brat!' thinks the man twisting around using the blade on his shoulder to slice down on the down replying him backwards.

The demon growls before pouncing out of the window to avoid the blade of the demon slayer, the man crumbles down to one knee using on katana to hold him up with a throbbing pain in his right leg; "Brat, get out of here already. Go find a place for your pathic ass."

Takashi remained in the corner with fear stained into his eyes as they remained traced on his mother's, unable to move as cold shivers bleach into his bones.

"Damn. the boy is shellshocked," says the man placing the blade in their sheaths on both sides of his hips; "Thank god its not my problem."

The man moves towards the door not even looking at the boy which now have tears running down his face like a silent river.

Suddenly, Takashi realises the man was leaving and so he chases after the man, he pushes through the cold thick air trying to follow the man down the darkened streets, Takashi shivers from the cold wind that smashes against the young boy's body.

"Stop following me, you brain dead brat," says the man turning around facing Takashi who bumps into him.

"Please, I have nowhere to go," starts Takashi only to have the man turn around and keep on walking.

"I don't care for your life story," says the man; "Just leave me alone."

"I just want to-" begins Takas hi but the demon slayer trainer walks faster away.

However, Takashi chases him starting to break into a run before…

"Fine!" shouts the man turning around throwing one of the firey katanas to the floor; "I'll let you live with me and maybe train under me if I feel up to it. Only if you manage to block on strike."

Takashi shakingly but also slowly grabs the katana, struggling to lift it up in front, his two small hands grip the handle until his hands turn white, the blade centres in down his face.

Quickly, the man dashes forward to swing the blade downwards towards Takashi, the boy shut his eyes and screamed lifting the blade up titling it slightly down in a freak spasm, the blade clash with a _CLANG._

Surprisingly, the trainer's blade slips off Takashi's clouding with the floor.

"Damn it, this will be troublesome," says the trainer taking the blade off Takashi; "Follow me, don't bother calling me Sensei just Ashido."

Ashido leads Takashi to a dark wooden cabin in the forest where trees reach into the sky like pillars, the cabin was small with only one room which had a kitchen and a futon, several scrolls and books littered the room.

"We'll start training in the morning," says Ashido falling onto the futon; "Find a comfortable place to sleep."

Takashi takes a second to glance around the room finding no other futon; "Don't bother looking, I only have one and I'm using it."

With a sigh, Takashi lays down on the floor and falls into a dreamless sleep. What's the point in a dream when you have no dreams.

The giant ball of burning flames creeps up the sky, any normal person would be sleeping but Ashido isn't normal. He forces both himself and Takashi having to beat him awake and kick him out into the backyard of the forest.

Takashi scrapes at his eyes trying to wake up properly, he glances around finding a pile of logs, Ashido sits on top of a stump; "Do some push-ups or something."

With a shrug, Takashi places himself on the floor but before he can even try a push-up, Ashido slams a wooden katana into Takashi's back forcing him to the ground.

"Spread your hands to meet your shoulders," says Ashido preparing for another swing.

Takashi readies for another push-up until he is once again slammed in the back again forcing him into the ground with a grunt.

"Straighten your back," says Ashido.

Yet again, Takashi prepares for another push-up, he begins to lower himself towards the ground, holding his breath.

Suddenly, Ashido whips the wooden katana onto Takashi's back; "Nose to floor and breath. dumbass."

"Yes, Sensei!" shouts Takashi receiving another blow to the back.

"Don't call me Sensei since I'm not calling you student! You're too damned weak," says Ashido slamming the katana into Takashi's back repeatedly.

Over the course of six months, Takashi is forced to do nothing but push-ups for every day from six am to ten pm, sweat poured into that one spot while his arms twitch, he gritted his teeth struggling to breathe while doing push-ups.

"Good, you built a strong body. Now for your core," says Ashido pointing at ropes and a few leaky trees; "I remember when I was taught using this."

"Good memoirs?" asks Takashi.

"No. they were awful, it felt like hell," says Ashido walking towards the ropes.

Takashi doesn't move an inch hearing Ashido calling this the worst thing ever, Ashido drags Takashi to the ropes tieing him up, ropes wrapped tightly around his wrist which lead to a tree on each side of him same with his ankles. Ashido casually pulls a single rope forcing the rope to tighten stretching out his limbs forcing a scream from Takashi in pain as his muscles feel like tearing and ripping apart.

"This is to make your body hurt like hell. But what I'm meant to say is flexible while building up your balance. See you at lights out," says Ashido tieing the rope up and leaving Takashi strung up in constant tearing pain.

The ropes only got tighter and tighter and his screams got louder and louder until eventually, the ropes can't tighten anymore and Takashi's screams slowly die down until it stops, within six months.

"We'll move on," says Ashido leading a swore, battered and beat Takashi to a crystal blue waterfall hidden in the forest.

Takashi eyes widen in joy, he finally gets to relax and-

"Don't think about it," says Ashido side glancing at Takashi; "Swimming improves stamina, speed and lung capacity. That's why you are going to do it while carrying a bag of bricks."

Takashi's smile poorly hides the pure terror that pumps through him more than blood, Ashido simple straps the beg to Takashi's back before kicking him into the pool under the flowing waterfall, before going back to the cabin to find a bottle of sake.

Takashi barely managed to stay afloat for the next few weeks, but he begins to swim and then he got faster and faster, his lungs expanded. Even though the water is cold to the touch when Takashi gets out he pats like a dog, sweat poured down his body just like the waterfall.

With twelve months he's able to swim without much effort, Ashido takes awhile thinking of another training session, thinking the answer is hidden at the bottom of the bottle of sake...no wait he just likes sake...slightly an alcoholic.

"I'll teach ya how to fight in a few simple steps; Do what I show you, burn it into your muscles, start training on trees and then maybe if there's not a bottle of sake, I'll fight you," says Ashido throwing the empty bottle to the side; "We need to go shopping...just for sake."

Ashido walks down the street yarning all the way, while Takashi carried everything for Ashido; "Is this training, sensei?"

"I'm going to tie you up again if you keep calling me SENSEI!" shouts Ashido; "I'm not sensei since I don't have a student. Also, if any sensei tells you that this is training. They are liars, we are just lazy and the students turn out good enough. Usually. My last pupils died."

"They died in action?" asks Takashi wanting to hear the stories of heroes to inspire him.

"No, they ever made it that far, they died in training," says Ashido causally; "There's the good sake store."

Ashido didn't let Takashi rest quickly making it back so Takashi can training, four a full year and a half of nothing but training some basic moves then moving on to hitting trees which bloodies his hands tearing cuts across his knuckles and eventually we began to fight Ashido with him only needing to land one mighty blow to proceed in training. Everyday Takashi was forced into the ground, smashed into it and mouthfuls of blood drained from him every single day until...Just as Takashi dashes forward Ashido snapped his leg out almost whipping his leg across his head but Takashi manages to duck underneath getting scraped in the process but he fires off an explosive punch slamming across Ashido sending him stumbling back letting a small quick smile appear on his face before disappearing in an instant.

"Hn, now I can consider you my student. Takashi Hashimoto, you are now the student of the breath of the dragon an extremely rare and deadly to train under, only a few qualify for training and fewer make it through, so do your best because it might just save your life," states Ashido grabbing two plain Katanas.

"Demon Slayers have special swords equipped for killing demons called Nichirin Blade. However, you can only get one of these after becoming a Demon Slayer by completing the final selection exam. That's not your concern these blades are normal so they won't slayer any demons but you can train using the Breath of the Dargon style," explains Ashido before continuing; "For the Breath of the Dragon style, it's very unique in that you have to have dual blades unlike others where you can use one but it's an option for those breaths to use dual blades."

"Sorry Sensei, but I don't even know how to use one," complains Takashi picking up the two katanas.

"That's perfect since most potential students make the mistake of training with only one katana but dual wield katanas is completely different meaning you can train in dual-wielding without any bad habits of focusing of one blade than both," starts Ashido; "When dual-wielding you have to think about attacks, defence and opening all the while doing two separate things with both blades. TIME TO BEGIN!"

Over the course of three and a half years, Takashi did standard training on his body while mastering the dual-blades each attack needs to slice and defend at the same time, each blade needs to move as if it has a mind of its own but in unison. Having to split his mind to be it two places only increases the difficulty but eventually, the stubborn Takashi learns every move for a dual blade user.

"Well done, now you must learn forms and then you can try the final test," says Ashido.

"And what is that?" asks Takashi with empty eyes.

"Break my blade while I'm fighting you," says Ashido; "This is why most students die."

End of Chapter One


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